“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.” Lord Acton 1834-1902
“At all times sincere friends of freedom have been rare” Lord Acton 1834-1902
“Now, if congress and the courts had attempted to obey this amendment, as they were constitutionally bound to do, they would soon have found that they had really no lawmaking power whatever left to them; because they would have found that they could make no law at all, of their own invention that would not violate men’s natural rights.” Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) on the 9th Amendment to the US Constitution
150 years ago, British historian Thomas Macaulay made this dire prediction for America, “Your civilization will be destroyed in the 20th century, as Rome was in the 5th century. But the huns and vandals which will destroy you will come from within, from your own institutions.”
The objective of intelligence is to detect potential risks, predict the point in time when the risk becomes a real threat and act at the time this transition happens. (Serra, Jordi and Barcelona Univ Intelligence Res Gr, 2008) Challenges facing today’s intelligence community range from uncovering innovative methods to predict the future, protecting intelligence computers from hackers and hostiles, measuring the organizations effectiveness in performing their mission and addressing legal conflicts arising from the intelligence community’s need to gather information and the bedrock principles of democratic liberty.
In the past threats came from recognizable nation states. The collapse of the USSR and the rise in terrorism changed this dynamic requiring the intelligence community to look for fresh methods to accomplish their mission. (Serra, Jordi and Barcelona Univ Intelligence Res Gr, 2008) Today’s threats mostly come from transnational terrorism cells acting outside of any traditional nation state framework. These cells are heavily financed and or protected by sympathetic nations, corporations, individuals and charitable organizations. These terrorists also have access to funds, communication networks and technology that cold war operatives could only dream of.
Advances in technology continue to provide novel ways to accumulate correlate and interpret intelligence. This also creates fresh challenges. Even before the current explosion of hackers and widespread individual use of the PC, the director of the US National Security Agency spoke of the increasing threats against the US military and other computer systems going beyond the “computer hacking stage” to use by hostile foreign governments acquiring “such offensive information warfare capabilities”. (Covault, 1997)
The third challenge facing the intelligence community is performance measuring. After the attacks on 9/11 the effort to create a better way to predict future attacks and thwart them has created what a two year investigation by the Washington Post called “a Top Secret America…. so massive that its effectiveness impossible to determine”. It goes on to point out that since 9/11 an estimated 854,000 people now hold top-security clearances, and over 3200 government and private entities work on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence programs that are spread across the US in approximately 10,000 locations. This new intelligence community occupies more buildings and office space than 3 Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings. (Priest, Dana and Arkin, William M., 2010).
With the development of transnational terrorism, advanced communication networks and methods for gathering intelligence has created a larger scope of possibilities for violating the bedrock principles of democratic liberties. The challenge is to not abandon these long held principles of democratic liberty in the quest for security, but to develop policies and procedures that enhance the existing oversight mechanisms that can adapt to the new technologies while also protecting the principles of democratic liberty. (Taipale, 2007)
In conclusion, the intelligence profession will continue to encounter evolving global and domestic threats, new technologies and government oversight policies that address the use of technology and protections of democratic liberties. Combating each new threat will require an ongoing commitment from government, security and intelligence professionals to acquire innovative skills that deliver on their mission of national security while upholding the bedrock principles of democratic liberty.
Works Cited
Covault, C. (1997). Cyber Threat Challenges Intelligenc Capability: NSA director warns of ‘fundamental new danger’ cites changing role of defensive systems and intelligence. Aviation Week & Space Technology , 20. Retrieved 4 8, 2012, from http://asu.summon.serialssolutions.com/search?s.cmd=setTextQuery(cyber+threat+challenges+intelligence+capability+nsa+director+warns+of+%27fundamental+new+danger%27+cites+changing+role+of+defensive+systems+and+intelligence+craig+covault+1997)&s.pn=1&s.q=Cy
Priest, Dana and Arkin, William M. (2010, July 10). A Hidden World Growing Beyond Control. The Washington Post, Retrieved 04 8, 2012, from http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/
Serra, Jordi and Barcelona Univ Intelligence Res Gr. (2008, 09 01). Proactive intelligence. Futures (London), p. 664.
Taipale, K. (2007). The Ear of Dionysus:Rethinking Foreign Intelligence Surveillance. 9 Yale J. L. & Tech., 128. Retrieved April 8, 2012, from http://intelligence.senate.gov/070501/taipaled.pdf
Filed under Intelligence, Security
Filed under Investing
I was recently sent this in an email and was struck by its simplicity and forthrightness I took the liberty of posting it in its entirety. There is much to be said about the wisdom that comes with age and sacrifice. Knowledge is no match for wisdom. Read and take it to heart. If you love America she needs all those who love her to take a stand to save her now more than ever. God Bless America!
Thomas Sowell (born June 30, 1930) is an American economist, social theorist, political philosopher, and author. A National Humanities Medal winner, he advocates laissez-faire economics and writes from a libertarian perspective He is currently a Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Sowell was born in North Carolina, but grew up in Harlem, New York. He dropped out of high school, and served in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. He had received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1958 and a master’s degree from Columbia University in 1959. In 1968, he earned his doctorate degree in economics from the University of Chicago. Dr. Sowell has served on the faculties of several universities, including Cornell and University of California, Los Angeles, and worked for “think-tanks” such as the Urban Institute. Since 1980 he has worked at the Hoover Institution He is the author of more than 30 books
The following are quotations written by Dr. Sowell:
“The current Occupy Wall Street movement is the best illustration to date of what President Barack Obama’s America looks like. It is an America where the lawless, unaccomplished, ignorant and incompetent rule. It is an America where those who have sacrificed nothing pillage and destroy the lives of those who have sacrificed greatly.
“It is an America where history is rewritten to honor dictators, murderers and thieves. It is an America where violence, racism, hatred, class warfare and murder are all promoted as acceptable means of overturning the American civil society.
“It is an America where humans have been degraded to the level of animals: defecating in public, having sex in public, devoid of basic hygiene. It is an America where the basic tenets of a civil society, including faith, family, a free press and individual rights, have been rejected. It is an America where our founding documents have been shredded and, with them, every person’s guaranteed liberties.
“It is an America where, ultimately, great suffering will come to the American people, but the rulers like Obama, Michelle Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, liberal college professors, union bosses and other loyal liberal/Communist Party members will live in opulent splendor.
“It is the America that Obama and the Democratic Party have created with the willing assistance of the American media, Hollywood , unions, universities, the Communist Party of America , the Black Panthers and numerous anti-American foreign entities.
“Barack Obama has brought more destruction upon this country in four years than any other event in the history of our nation, but it is just the beginning of what he and his comrades are capable of.
“The Occupy Wall Street movement is just another step in their plan for the annihilation of America.
MKNoteSense![[Valid RSS]](valid-rss-rogers.png "Validate my RSS feed")
